Through Fire and Flame
by Biskoff
Summary: On a request from Malcador, the Emperor of Mankind made a change to the Primarch Project. Decades later on the very edge of the Segmentum Tempestus, a Primarch is found. A young ninja must face destiny and become the conqueror and protector Mankind needs. As the Great Crusade grinds on and dark forces lie in wait, the leader of the Second Legion must decide where to stand.


As Sakura made her way to the Hokage tower for their next D-rank mission she couldn't help but feel optimistic. They'd come back from Wave alive and well. Naruto wasn't being as much of a pain and Sasuke was talking more. Not by a lot, but enough. She smiled. Things were looking up.

"Excuse me young lady, could you spare a moment?"

Sakura started and spun towards the voice. She hadn't even realized someone was nearby. She could have _sworn_ there wasn't anyone on the park bench a moment ago. Of all her team, only Naruto could match her detection abilities and even then he was random in how well he could do it. Kakashi Hatake himself had said she was extremely talented.

For a moment she thought it might be another ninja. Then she saw the ratty clothes he wore. With a wrinkled face, pale grey hair and a tattered traveling cloak he didn't look like much. Possibly a poor merchant passing through the village. She hadn't really been focusing on her surroundings, so that must have been it.

Sakura tried to be polite even if she did have another mission with team. Hopefully they wouldn't go back to dog walking after proving themselves in Wave. "Uh, I suppose so. But I do have a meeting at the Hokage tower. So I can't talk too long."

"Oh? It sounds important." He looked the girl up and down. Tall for her age, with a lithe and muscular build that was so typical of shinobi. She looked like an exemplar ninja... were she not a whole head and shoulders above her average classmates.

"Well... not really. I'm still a beginner ninja. We're the strongest team of our age group though!" She didn't understand why she felt the need to impress this man, but she did. Her eyes narrowed momentarily. Was he a ninja after all? Was he using genjutsu?

"Impressive. Who are your teammates?"

Sakura hesitated a moment and glanced to the side. The desire to talk to this man grew stronger. She squashed the feeling utterly. Then she pushed the thought out of her head with nothing more than a flare of her nostrils. She split her attention between the man -possibly a ninja- and her own thoughts to be sure she wouldn't be influenced by the genjutsu again.

Had she not taken her eyes off the man for those few seconds, she would have seen his eyebrows raise in surprise before his face returned to normal.

"My teammates are... they're good people. And strong ninja." There. Something perfectly true while being acceptably vague.

"You're all great ninja, then? Comrades for a common cause?" The man seemed oddly amused but still politely interested. There was no feeling of contempt or killing intent from him.

"Eh? Well..." Sakura wasn't sure how to answer that. If she _should_ answer that. So much had happened, so much had changed in Wave, that her feelings towards her teammates were still very much a jumble. She still liked Sasuke, still thought Naruto was a try-hard... but they were more than that. They _were_ her comrades.

She was saved from answering as she heard Naruto's loud voice coming closer. She stretched out her sense and kept her attention on the traveler. A smile worked its way onto her lips. Her team was here. With someone whose presence she didn't recognize.

"Sakura! Hey, Sakura! Me and Sasuke met this old guy on the way here. He-" Naruto stopped as he saw the man on the bench. Sakura saw the man focus his eyes onto her team and turned to look at them. She saw another man with Sasuke and Naruto, this one wearing a full body robe. He was holding an odd staff in his hand: an eagle with its wings spread and a chain attaching the staff to his arm. Maybe he was from one of the temples?

"Ah, there you are, my friend. I was wondering where you had gone off to." The man with the staff smiled. Sakura twisted her lips at the odd apparatus that seemed to be attached to his throat. It almost looked like one of Ame's rebreathers... but it wasn't. She knew it wasn't. It actually seemed to enter his body, which would mean it took incredibly advanced and precise surgery for it to function and not leave him a cripple. She didn't think Ame could do that. Not from what she'd read.

Then she noticed Sasuke frowning at the man on the bench. Sakura realized the man was still staring at Naruto intensely. The blonde seemed to be getting more and more nervous as the man looked at him.

"I was wandering through this village. It is... interesting." The seated man responded. But his eyes didn't leave Naruto.

Sakura didn't like that look. She knew people didn't like Naruto, mostly because he was annoying and pranked everyone... but this look was different. The man was judging Naruto. _Examining_ him.

Sakura shared a glance with Sasuke as Naruto slowly withered under the man's unrelenting stare. She didn't care if it was rude. They were leaving. She would tell Kakashi about these two when they got to the Tower. These people were becoming more and more suspicious.

With nothing more than a "We might be late, we should get going, have a good day." Team 7 departed. The elderly man's gaze switched between Sakura and Naruto, considering their interactions. He was looking at Sakura now, with that same heavy, judging gaze. The team pointedly did not look back.

"You took your measure of her comrades?" The man on the bench asked.

"I did."

"Tell me."

"Sasuke Uchiha is from an old line of law enforcers. He is strong, talented and driven. He seeks revenge but it is being tempered by his fellow soldiers." He leaned against his staff as he spoke. A few flickering embers began to appear around the golden eagle.

"And the _other_?"

The man with the staff paused. "Naruto Uzumaki... he is very charismatic for a child. Unnaturally so, you might say." He gave a meaningful look to the man still sitting on the bench. "I _wanted_ to believe he could make this village better. That is his dream. The betterment of those who live here and to gain their acknowledgment in doing so. The village dislikes his presence but I have not yet divined why-"

"He is host to a daemon." The traveler on the bench interrupted.

He blinked rapidly. Other than that there was no trace of surprise or fear. "Is he? I did not even sense it. This is unsettling. Has he-"

"It is bound. Somehow. He has been touched by a god that should not yet exist."

The man with the staff remained silent. He waited for his companion to continue. Whatever his friend chose to reveal, he would not press for more.

"He is unaware of his own heritage?" The seated man asked.

"I believe so, yes. I could feel his powers were being suppressed. They are contained but strong. It is possible one of those in authority knows and seeks to limit the damage if there is no one here to teach him control."

The older man closed his eyes slowly. He exhaled and furrowed his brow as he focused. Moments later his face slackened. "Yes. There are none of their kind on the planet. Only another half-breed and relics left behind."

"Is that so? Interesting. Regardless of his bloodline they are all a good influence on each other, I think." The man with the eagle staff looked down at his friend. "They _are_ still children, my lord. They will grow and change. They can be... guided."

The elderly man hesitated before nodding. "I thought she would be older."

"She was sent here through the Immaterium itself. That place makes no sense at the best of times. For her to be taken nearly thirty years ago and arrive only twelve... stranger things have happened."

The seated man hummed thoughtfully. He stared at Sakura as she picked up Naruto with one hand and shouted at him for saying something foolish as Sasuke watched passively with a smirk. His eyes trailed them as they left the park. Sakura turned and stared at the elderly pair one last time. The man with the staff gave a pleasant wave and nod while the seated man returned her stare placidly. The girl frowned before she turned and continued walking with her teammates.

The man with the staff glanced lowered his gaze to the floor before speaking again. "What are your orders, my Emperor?"

For a moment the man didn't move. The park was silent. Then he lifted himself from the park bench.

And he was no longer a weary old traveler. There was no wrinkled face or greying hair. Only a young man, tall and proud and _great_ , with lightly tanned skinned and rich brown hair trailing past his shoulders.

"We will speak to this Hokage. We will learn more about the history of Sakura Haruno and inform those in power of her future as my daughter. We will learn of Naruto Uzumaki and how he came to be. Why Eldar were on this world. Then we shall determine his fate."

The man stroked his chin in consideration. "Was my presence necessary for this? You are well capable of bringing this world into Compliance and Sakura's future is already planned. The Great Crusade must continue."

"True. But I still desire your input for my daughters. Her very existence was your idea, my friend. I would have preferred all sons. I... do not know how to handle a daughter." The Emperor of Mankind looked to his ancient friend and advisor with a wry, almost accusing expression.

Malcador the Sigilite sighed softly as the eagle atop his staff was surrounded by fire. "I suppose Terra will last a few days without my presence. Very well, my lord. Lead and I shall follow, always."

* * *

AN: I had an idea as I was catching up on If The Emperor Had a Text to Speech Device. It is kind of a crack-y thought but it could easily be played straight.

It starts shortly after Team 7 returns from Wave. So they are still a team and the foundations are laid for them to really come together: Sasuke hasn't been cursed-marked or Tsukiyomi'd into an avenger, Naruto actually bonded with his teammates and realized some of his shortcomings, and Sakura came face to face with loss and determined she needed to get better.

Then the Emperor shows up. Now in canon, Malcador once suggested to make the Primarchs, or at least a few of them, female. Malcador thought having sisters would reduce the chance of vicious sibling rivalries. The Emperor said no for a variety of reasons: It would take more time than he wanted to reconstruct the genetic makeup, he thought Malcador was joking, he thought that he would be raising the Primarchs from infancy and would be able to make them accept each other.

 _Here_ the Emperor did. Not all. Just two. The ones who would come to lead the Second and Eleventh Legions. In canon the two met unknown ends, their records expunged and names stripped from all databases. Here... things will be different.

In Summary: Sakura Haruno is the 12 year old daughter/clone/creation of the Emperor of Mankind. She was found by a pair of local parents and raised with love. Her real 'father' comes to the shinobi world to claim her and nothing is the same again. She eventually grows into the role of galactic conqueror and protector as the Primarch of the Second Legion. In regard as to why Sakura isn't already a superhuman conqueror, I'm just going with the idea of 'she's a young superhuman on a planet of superhumans and is still coming into being super-superhuman.'

Puberty will be hard. Feel bad for the Emperor.

Naruto is half-Eldar, courtesy of the Uzumaki being among the first to flee the Eldar homeworlds before the birth of Slaanesh. Old canon says this is possible, new canon says it 'probably' isn't. If I use new canon... Orochimaru worked a miracle for Minato and Kushina. Mostly he wanted to see if he could do it. Fun fact: Minato and Kushina summoned the god of Death to seal the Kyuubi. Anyone who knows Eldar lore knows just how important that god is.

Sasuke is a 'normal' human and the only sane man between a super-human girl leading millions of troops and hundreds of ships to conquer the galaxy and a half-breed who feels the unending need to prove himself worthy of standing next to them. Fuck his life. He finds a silver lining in collecting various styles of hats. Commisar hats are his favorite.


End file.
